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Far from showing Puerto Rico as an island paradise where one can drink lots of coconut milk and achieve the best Caribbean tan, Silence of the Wind reveals the uncomfortable reality suffered by illegal immigrants that cross the border of water escaping the famine and lack of future of their native Dominican Republic. The job of the monosyllabic, elusive Rafito, the character that inserts us in this hostile world, consists in helping illegal immigrants enter and hiding them for a while in exchange for money. Álvaro Aponte-Centeno conveys, though naturalist images, the work and family life of the protagonist without condemning him. Putting the recent loss of her sister, who used to work with him, at the center of the scene, Aponte-Centeno shapes a film that works as a long, painful mourning. The camera surrounds the spaces in silence, whether jungles or cities, technically replicating the tension between being able to enter a land or being left out completely. Silence of the Wind chooses to tell a sordid tale, but does not renounce portraying it with some beautiful images.

Álvaro Aponte-Centeno

He directed three short films that won various awards: Luz (2010), Mi santa mirada (2012), selected for the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival, and Yahaira (2015).